Website: www.tiara.org.au
A group of eminent professionals from TIARA, (Tick-induced Allergies Research and Awareness Committee) has developed a key communication strategy to help all those at risk of tick bites.
The best course is to avoid being bitten; but if it happens (and the northern beaches are a tick hotspot), then advice is provided for managing the situation.
TIARA, established in 2013, is the inspiration of Associate Professor Sheryl Van Nunen OAM, immunologist, who was the first scientist to describe the link between tick bite and Alpha Gal (or mammalian meat) allergy in 2007.
The Co-Chairs since then have been Professor Antony Basten AO (distinguished immunologist) and West Pittwater’s Adjunct Professor Nicholas Cowdery AO KC (retired lawyer).
The committee comprises specialists in immunology, emergency and general medicine, veterinary science, entomology, communications and other relevant disciplines.
TIARA is staffed by volunteers and does valuable work in widening awareness of tick avoidance techniques, tick induced allergies (including anaphylaxis and mammalian meat allergy), providing support to those affected and working towards a better understanding of the effects.
Ixodes holocyclus, commonly known as the paralysis tick, is not only the major species of tick found in the northern beaches region of Sydney that affects humans, it is also the species responsible for hypersensitivity reactions in humans.
Tiara was established to:
⦁ Promote awareness of tick avoidance and tick-induced allergies to the public, health professionals, those in at-risk occupations, educators and government.
⦁ Provide resources and support for sufferers of tick-induced allergies who live remote from expert medical and dietetic advisors.
⦁ Promote research into the prevention & cure of tick-induced allergies.
⦁ Disseminate established tick management strategies and helps develop novel, proven tick management measures.
TIARA’s strategy is encapsulated in a key phrase:
If you are bitten by a tick:
FREEZE IT – DON’T SQUEEZE IT.
This disarmingly simple direction quickly and simply ‘Kills the tick where it is’ and greatly reduces the likelihood of an allergic reaction that may result from squeezing the tick and expelling toxins into the bloodstream. The freezing is to be done by applying an ether-based spray or cream directly to the tick and leaving it in place until it drops off.
Sprays and creams containing ether can be found at your local pharmacy.
FIND OUT MORE
For more information about ticks and how to prevent and treat their bites:
⦁ SEE the Tiara website.
⦁ DOWNLOAD How to Remove a Tick Flyer
⦁ VIEW VIDEO How to Safely Remove a Tick
⦁ VIEW VIDEO How to Prevent a Tick Bite
Although you may be bitten by ticks year-round in our area, as we head into Spring and residents go into their garden and outdoors to enjoy the season, please use these resources as a refresher on how to protect your family, yourself, and your pets.
Spring is a common time for tick issues, as the various tick life stages emerge from dormancy and seek a host to feed off from late Winter. This means there is a peak in tick paralysis cases from very early Spring (even late Winter) through to mid-Summer.
A little about Clinical Professor Sheryl van Nunen MBBS MM(Sleep Medicine) FRACP
Dr Sheryl van Nunen OAM is a Visiting Medical Officer at Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney, a Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Human Sciences of Macquarie University, a Clinical Associate Professor of the Northern Clinical School of Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and a Senior Advisor in the Division of Respiratory, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, VINMEC International Hospital, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Professor Sheryl Van Nunen
Dr van Nunen first described the association between tick bites and the subsequent development of mammalian meat anaphylaxis, documented the first instance of a proven IgE-mediated mechanism in anaphylaxis to a food (mammalian meat) in systemic mastocytosis and first described ticks as an insect causing anaphylaxis in systemic mastocytosis. In 2013, Dr van Nunen convened the Tick-induced Allergies Research & Awareness Committee (www.tiara.org.au).
From 1985, until its merger with the Department of Clinical Immunology in late 2012, she was Head of the Department of Allergy at Royal North Shore Hospital. During this time she fostered innovation and scholarship within the Department and was the chief investigator in clinical trials of 75% of all new treatments for allergic conditions introduced to Australia. Dr van Nunen was subsequently Senior Staff Specialist in the Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Royal North Shore Hospital until her resignation on 30 June 2020.
Dr van Nunen has published over 175 papers and articles regarding tick-induced allergies (mammalian meat allergy and tick anaphylaxis), stinging insect hypersensitivity, anaphylaxis/food allergy, basic science of allergy, latex allergy, contact dermatitis, drug allergy, allergic rhinitis and urticaria/angioedema.
A keen teacher and recipient of an Excellence in Clinical Tutoring Award from the Northern Clinical School, she has taught medical students at the University of Sydney for 44 years. In 2014, the graduating class awarded her “Favourite Tutor”. She has also supervised higher degree candidates for the University of Sydney.
Dr van Nunen has been invited to speak in the People’s Republic of China, Argentina, Indonesia, Vietnam and New Zealand, as well as throughout Australia and New South Wales. In addition, she helped tutor Papua New Guinea’s first Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, organised the first delegation to China by the Australian College of Allergy (now the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy), trained and sponsored our Chinese colleague who set up Shanghai’s first (and China’s second) Allergy Clinic and supervised the inaugural Hoc Mai Foundation (University of Sydney) Fellow in Clinical Immunology and Allergy, later establishing with our Vietnamese colleague a now long-standing e-consultation service between Vietnam and Australia.
Dr van Nunen, as a media spokesperson for allergy, in a voluntary capacity, for the Australasian College of Physicians, the Australian College of Allergy, the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, the National Asthma Campaign and the National Asthma Council Australia, has contributed to the understanding of allergic conditions by the public via numerous requested media contributions to television, radio, print media (popular books, newspapers, magazines and pamphlets), video productions and presentations, media launches and releases and audiotape presentations.
Currently, her research interests comprise tick-induced allergies (both mammalian meat and tick induced anaphylaxis), new treatments for, and causes of, hayfever and anaphylaxis, whilst being a member of the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA)’s Working Parties on Anaphylaxis and Insect Allergy.